


In Another Life

by JuliaBaggins



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark Future with Magic, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 10:58:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5583253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaBaggins/pseuds/JuliaBaggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dark version of the future.</p>
<p>After a great war, the Leadership is hunting down rebels with no mercy. The rebels are fighting against the system by using magic.</p>
<p>Arthur Pendragon is one of the Leadership's best commanders. During a mission, he meets a young rebel...</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> So this is an experiment that happened as I wasn't really in the mood to write something fluffy.

The first unusual thing that happened to Arthur on this day was his father visiting him. They didn’t saw each other often and if, it usually was Uther calling him to his office. But today was different. Uther appeared in front of Arthur’s door in the early morning when his son had just woken up. 

“Arthur.”

Arthur tried to hide his surprise as he answered him. He instantly started to wonder why his father would decide to visit him in his quarters. That couldn’t mean anything good.

“Good morning, Sir. What can I do for you?”

“One of our surveillance drones flying above the Northern Territory last night sent some interesting pictures. It looks like there’s a big rebel-base in a valley high in the mountains there. And I want you and your Unit to be the ones to take care of it.”

Arthur nodded. He already started to make a list in his head of which soldiers he’d take with him while Uther headed for the door. Before he left, he turned around once more.

“Arthur… Take care of you.” 

His son looked at Uther in surprise – his father was not really the protective type. Uther’s next sentence sounded a lot more like himself.

“And remember: No prisoners.” 

“Of course, Sir.”

 

Arthur met his team at the helicopter-base. He had informed them all as soon as his father had left his quarters and now they were here. The Leadership’s best executives, Arthur’s Unit that was as effective as it was feared. They greeted Arthur, he gave them a brief overview of their planned mission and they started their flight. It took only two helicopters to carry them – Arthur had always preferred a small troop of the best over any huge army. And with his Unit, he was sure that the rebels wouldn’t have the hint of a chance. No matter that they probably were more, counted by numbers. They used to have a lot of civilians… 

_No._ Arthur interrupted his own thoughts. He had started to think of the rebels’ wives, of their children as _civilians._ Which they weren’t. It had been one of the first things his father had taught him. The real civilians were those people under the protection of the Leadership. Those whose security he protected, fighting far away from home against the rebels. _They_ weren’t civilians. None of them. They were all guilty, guilty of acting against the Leadership, of using _magic_ against it. They deserved no mercy. They needed to be punished, so the _real_ civilians could live in security, in safety. That was what needed to be done. What _he_ needed to do.

Arthur had known all of this as his truth for his whole life. He _knew_ how things were, he had been fighting long enough, had killed enough nameless rebels. And still, he wondered why it always sounded like his father’s voice in his head when he told himself how he was doing the right thing…

 

The weather was grey and rainy as it always was; the two helicopters flying through thick dark clouds. Arthur had heard stories of the sun, of a blue sky, but that was all – as long as he lived, there had never been anything but this everlasting grey. And since his mother had died, there weren’t even stories anymore. Uther never talked about _before._ His only concern was to get rid of the rebels as soon as possible, like that would repair everything that had gone wrong with the world.

 

The flight to the Northern Territory took about two hours. Their destination was far away from the Leadership’s main base; farther than most of their missions brought them. Surely the rebels had thought that they would be safe, up here in the mountains. But Arthur knew better. The Leadership would hunt them to the ends of the world if it would be necessary; supported by their drones, their helicopters, and, most important, their biological weapons. Those who could paralyze the magic. It wasn’t a fair fight, never had been one, but Arthur didn’t care. _They_ had wanted it that way. His father had told him how they did.

Arthur’s helicopter landed about half a mile away from the place where the drone had discovered the rebel-base. The other one flew to the base’s other side; a first step to surround the enemy. Arthur gave his soldiers a few instructions before they parted, disappearing into the night in small groups. 

Arthur was the first one to arrive at the metal fence surrounding the camp. Everything inside looked dark and abandoned. _Maybe the rebels had already left that base?_ But no, Arthur remembered that there had been a few lights visible at the pictures his father had shown him. And even if they had left after the recordings had been made, they couldn’t be far… 

 

Suddenly, a man stormed out of the camp. He was old and alone, but Arthur had been in the business long enough not to underestimate any of the rebels. There was a reason why there were still some of them outside, after all those years the Leadership had spent hunting them down.

The old man opened his mouth, Arthur saw the familiar golden glow in his eyes and hurried to take cover. _Why hadn’t his backup fired one of the paralyzers yet?_ Arthur looked up to the mountains, where the other helicopter should have landed. He couldn’t see anything except the rain and the dark shadows of the mountains in the distance. Damn. Carefully, Arthur put some of their special ammunition into his gun. The paralyzers worked better when fired on a grand scale, but at the moment, as the only other human being he could see was the old rebel, a small dose from his gun would be better than nothing.

Arthur fired at him. Target hit. He saw the man swaying, some of the gold vanished from his eyes, though it wasn’t enough yet. Suddenly, a second shot hit him, fired from the opposite direction. Arthur sighed out of relief. So it seemed the other helicopter had reached its destination and he finally had his backup.

After a moment of trying to make out where exactly his Unit’s members were (which was hopeless in the rain and the dark), Arthur turned his attention back to the old man. He was still standing, murmuring spells and casting them everywhere. It was stupid of him to try and fight their whole division on his own. He had not the hint of a chance. The old rebel must know that sooner or later, they’d take him down… Though there was something in his eyes, in the way he remained on his feet… And suddenly, Arthur realized that it wasn’t stupidity that drove the old man. It was _sacrifice_ , as well as bravery; it was a diversionary tactic (a rather good one, Arthur had to admit) and Arthur couldn’t help being slightly impressed. 

The old man was willing to sacrifice his life to give his people, wherever they had gone, a little bit of cover; to keep Arthur’s Unit busy for some time. And it seemed to be working, as all of Arthur’s men were shooting at him, hiding away from his curses and not being very attentive to any other possible rebels.

 

The fight between Arthur’s soldiers and the old rebel was in full swing when suddenly, Arthur could hear a voice yelling.

“Gaius, no!”

Another rebel stormed down the mountain, cleverly ducking away from the shots Arthur’s division fired at him. He was fast and he was _good_ – Arthur saw it with his own eyes, how he took two of his soldiers who had climbed a nearby tree down by a wink of his hand. More shots were being fired at the rebel, though not as many as Arthur would have liked. He started to think about how many of his soldiers were left, to worry if…

 

A sharp pain suddenly cut through Arthur’s chest. It took his breath away, he trembled, fell to his knees. He started to panic, wondered _what the hell_ had happened, when he saw the golden glow only a few meters away. Arthur had no clue how the young rebel had gone down that fast, but here he was, already kneeling by the old man’s side. His eyes were fixed on Arthur, the gold brighter than he had ever seen it. And Arthur had looked into the eyes of many sorcerers. 

The pain inside his chest increased, his vision started to get blurry, and he was sure that those eyes would be the last thing he’d ever see…

 

Arthur woke up. And to him, that was probably the biggest surprise of this day – he hadn’t expected to ever wake up again, not after the cut in his… _Wait._ Arthur tried to remember, to think of what happened, but he couldn’t. The only thing he was able to remember was this horrible pain in his chest, together with a golden light…

He opened his eyes, blinked. An unfamiliar room. Arthur could see the ceiling as well as the upper part of the walls. Carefully, he tried to move – there were chains around his ankles, holding him in place on something like a wooden table. His shirt had been taken away and he still felt the pain in his chest, though it wasn’t as hot and extreme as earlier anymore. He cursed. 

Suddenly, a face appeared in his vision. A young man. And finally, Arthur remembered. The rebel-base up in the mountains, the old man, the young sorcerer, the curse he had thrown at him. Arthur remembered how certain he had been that he would die, up there in the rain, but somehow, he was here. Hurt and in chains. And next to him was a rebel, possibly the most powerful sorcerer Arthur had ever seen, the gold glowing in his eyes. He instantly knew that he had no chance.

 

“You’re Uther Pendragon’s son.”

It wasn’t a question. Arthur didn’t answer. He bit his teeth, swore himself that he wouldn’t say a thing and prepared for whatever kind of torture the sorcerer would try at him. 

“I won’t hurt you.”

Now Arthur couldn’t help but dryly laugh. 

But suddenly, something unexpected happened. The gold vanished from the rebel’s eyes, leaving behind bright blue. Arthur looked at the rebel in front of him and for the first time, he really _saw_ him. The sorcerer was barely twenty years old, he was pale, skinny, his dark hair was long and untamed. Arthur started to wonder how this _boy_ could have the power to take his whole Unit down on himself.

The young sorcerer moved closer and put his hand at Arthur’s chest. Arthur flinched, tried to get away from the touch but he had no chance as he was still chained up. And suddenly, there was a warm feeling inside his chest. He could feel the deep cut again, the place where his pain had been worst, but now, the feeling there was rather different – it was warm, nearly comforting, and it took Arthur a moment to figure out that the rebel was _healing_ him.

 

“Better?”

Arthur nodded, just the slightest bit, and the sorcerer smiled at his reaction.

“What’s your name?”

The rebel bit his lip and Arthur tried it again.

“You know who I am, so it would be only fair…”

“Merlin.”

“Merlin. Okay.” Arthur studied him for a moment. “Was that man your father?”

Arthur thought of the old rebel, of the desperation in Merlin’s voice when he had been calling for the one who was willing to sacrifice his own life.

“No. But he was as close to me as any father could have been.”

“Did he made it?”

“No. It was too late.” Merlin closed his eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

And to his own surprise, Arthur felt that these words were true. He really felt sorry for the brave old man; for the boy who had lost the one he had loved like a father. Arthur felt sorry for the fate of two rebels, of two _sorcerers,_ and it wasn’t even bothering him that much.

 

There was a loud noise outside, probably an explosion. Both Arthur and Merlin started to look around, nervously. The gold came back to the sorcerer’s eyes.

“Your people or mine?”, Arthur asked.

Merlin shrugged. “This way or that, it’s going to end bad for one of us.”

That was true. Arthur prepared for Merlin to finally kill him, so he would be able to either join his people, if outside were more rebels, or to get away from the enemy, if it were troops of the Leadership. He couldn’t understand why the young rebel hadn’t already done so, why he had brought him here in the first place. Maybe he wanted to use him as a hostage? Merlin had known who his father was, so it would be possible that…

But Arthur got surprised once more. A golden glow, and the chains that were holding him down disappeared. Without looking at him again, Merlin moved to a small window Arthur hadn’t been able to see before. After a moment of sheer surprise, Arthur sat up. His eyes continued to search the room, taking in the surrounding, possible escape routes, and suddenly, he saw something that he hadn’t expected. His gun, leaning against a nearby table. If he had counted correctly, there still should be some of the paralyzing ammunition inside. One quick movement, one shot, and _maybe_ …

 

“Looks like it’s your lucky day. Those are Leadership soldiers. Plenty of them.”

Merlin realized his mistake too late. When he turned away from the window to look at Arthur again, the blond soldier’s gun was already pointing at him.

“It was stupid of you to leave that here. As well as losing my chains.”

Something like a forced smile appeared on Merlin’s pale face.

“Yeah. It seems like I’m an idiot sometimes.” He pointed at the gun in Arthur’s hands. “Wanna give it a try?” 

Arthur ignored the question, the challenge in Merlin’s voice. He had a quick look at the soldiers moving outside; recognized their uniform, their commander, thought of his favorite attack strategies. 

“You have a chance if you walk west, _now._ They don’t guard that flank yet as there’s not much cover to be found there. If you get out of the base through the western gate before they’ve reached the main street and then instantly turn north, towards the mountains, you might get away.”

 

Merlin looked at him in disbelief.

“You have a gun in your hands. You know what it could do to me. You’re in charge, Arthur Pendragon. And still, you’re trying to help me by suggesting an escape route. Why? Why would you try to safe my life, to help me?”

“Well, you helped me first.”

Arthur pointed to his chest and Merlin shook his head. They both knew that this wasn’t a real argument. Not only that Merlin had been the one to hurt Arthur in the first place, his original plan had also probably not involved setting Arthur free. 

Merlin’s eyes were fixed on Arthur, a turbulent mix of gold and blue.  
Arthur’s expression was carved out of stone while he slowly put the gun down.

 

“You know that death stands not only for rebellion and sorcery, but also for just _helping_ a sorcerer.” 

Merlin’s voice was calm, as if he wasn’t just talking about how in Arthur’s world, his very existence was enough to give the Leadership a reason to kill him. Arthur’s stony façade started to disappear as something like a sad smile found its way to his lips.

“Yes, I do know it.”

“Then why do you help me?”

Merlin’s voice was a whisper and he took a step in Arthur’s direction. He stopped when he was so close that they could have touched each other, if one of them would have decided to raise their hands. Of course none of them made any moves. They just stood there, looking into each other’s eyes. Merlin’s were nothing but blue now.

“Because I think we could have been friends. In another life.”

Merlin nodded; and him and Arthur lost themselves into each other’s eyes for a moment longer. It was like there were many unspoken thoughts flying in the space between them, but both men remained silent. 

Arthur offered his hand, Merlin shook it and within a second, he was out of the door. 

When Arthur went to the window to have a look at the path outside, nothing of the young rebel was to be seen anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Please tell me if you liked that :)


End file.
